Epic Chef mixes collectively diverse components to create one thing fairly tasty. It is a story-based journey recreation a few man named Zest transferring to a brand new city and rising by way of the culinary ranks, however the gameplay is not nearly cooking. When you’ll concoct quite a few recipes utilizing extraordinary components, the sport is as a lot a crafting and life sim expertise.
It is an uncommon mix, nevertheless it works fairly properly. A day/evening cycle means the townsfolk of Ambrosia run their routines by the clock, that means retailers aren’t all the time open and NPCs will seem elsewhere relying on the time. When you’ve a quest you’ll be able to’t proceed till the night, say, you’ll be able to spend the day planting seeds in your backyard, crafting supplies to make new gadgets, or experimenting with new recipes within the kitchen.
A giant a part of the sport is the chef battles, during which you and an opponent cook dinner up your finest grub and a decide decides the victor. The cooking system is straightforward on the floor — you throw components in a pan and stir till every thing’s cooked — nevertheless it’s extra nuanced than that, with synergies to find, delaying stirring to construct aroma, and including sauces to jazz up the flavour. When you get a style for it, it is an gratifying system.
It does take a short time for the sport to essentially heat up; the opening hours goal to ascertain quite a bit fairly shortly, however when you’re previous all that, there is a fairly stable journey to take pleasure in. Some elements could depart a humorous aftertaste; loading interrupts the sport between areas, which makes getting round really feel a bit clunky. The presentation is slightly tough too, with a number of fiddly menus and blocky characters that do not fairly hit the mark. Nonetheless, the witty writing and loopy story, paired with easy however efficient gameplay, makes for an gratifying journey in your interior foodie.
